Pressure distribution on the nose of an airship in circling flight

Fairbanks, Karl Jnaca-tn-224August 1925

In recent tests on the pressures occurring on the envelope and control surfaces of the naval airship C-7, it was noted that the pressures on the nose of the airship, while flying in level circling flight, were symmetrically distributed. Such a condition can only occur when the nose of the airship is pointed directly into the wind, and to accomplish this in circling flight, the axis of the airship must then be parallel to the direction of the motion of the nose. The question was raised as to whether the same conditions occur generally on all airships in circling flight. It appears that airships flying in a constant, level, circling flight path will generally head very closely into the wind, and any deviation will be so slight that the distribution of pressure over the nose will be but slightly, if at all, changed from a symmetrical distribution.